


Back At One

by milkeiths



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fix-It, Happy Ending, One Shot, Rey Needs A Hug, Reylo - Freeform, The Force Ships It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22193107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkeiths/pseuds/milkeiths
Summary: In which Rey tries to sleep another grief-stricken night but a voice reaches out to her. A new hope for redemption and home.A love so tender and healing ought to have its ending it deserves.An ending both Rey and Ben Solo should have had in the Rise Of Skywalker.An ending where love transcends over fruitless prophecies and wars.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 100





	Back At One

In times like this, Rey would remember the ghostly touch of their lips as he takes his last whiff of air. He was rough at edges, jarred by the scars of his past - and Rey’s doing. But she did not expect his full lips to be  _ smooth _ and even gentle. Opposite to how he presented himself. Opposite to  _ Kylo Ren.  _

Rey’s eyes prickled with hot tears. The man she kissed was  _ Ben Solo _ . She felt the tenderness of his emotions as she caressed his face, felt his dark, brooding eyes look at her as if the constellations finally gave him an answer, and felt the brush of his raging emotions through the bond.  _ Destiny.  _

_ Destiny. _ The word echoes in her head bitterly. How was she supposed to embrace this destiny when the man she loves died in her own arms? When the man she loves traded his life for hers?

She saved the universe from the bloody grasps of Palpatine, fascism, and shift to balance finally achieved. Light and dark dancing with each other. This was  _ her destiny.  _

But she had loved- no  _ loves-  _ him. Still. And he  _ loved  _ her. 

Rey sobs in her dimly lit chambers. She sobs at the devastating loss of the only person who could understand the magnitude of her loneliness. She sobs, her emotions bursting like a supernova, and thinks about the things they could have done after the war. And the things she didn’t say or do during this relentless war. She envisions his taut face, brooding eyes, and guarded posture when they first bonded through the Force. Although she vehemently hated him at that time, she could not help feeling the electric spark she felt when his surprised eyes met hers. Her heartbeat fastened like no other, her hazel eyes dilating with unknown euphoria from the connection.

She curls in her bed into a fetal position. Her right cheek damped along with the white blanket. 

In her childish, jagged hope, she prods at their connection. Rey can’t feel his Force signature. She can’t sense the old Darkness that engulfed him yet still freckled with streaks and rays of starlight. The darkness that would dimly light up when she crosses his mind at times. 

_ Ben, I love you, _ Rey channels. She couldn’t say those last words to him then. She kissed him in exchange for these words for she knew that actions mattered more than words.

But it would have been better to hear those words said back. A promise. Yet Rey knows empty promises herself well enough. 

She prods through the abysmal of their connection. Nothing. It was as if she pressed on a comm and static replied. This pressing feeling of void, a feeling she knew all too well in Jakku, suffocated her. But the difference between the void she felt in the vastness of endless desserts and  _ this  _ was that she felt a presence then.  _ Hope _ that something would complete this void when she felt a ripple in the Force as she stared at the stars late at night. Now, this hope diminished. She didn’t know hope lied in the crevices of Ben’s scars and that hope is gone.  _ Gone like the First Order. Gone like Snoke. Gone like Leia, Luke, and Han. Gone like Ben. _

Rey balls her fists around the sheets. No tears came out, her body drained to the core. Sighing at her depressing thoughts, she closes her eyes again. She slowly slips into slumber, dreaming of the pristine, blue vastness of an ocean. Gentle waves touching her feet as she nimbly walks on the beach. Sand sticking under her feet and between her toes. She eyes the alluring sunset, a staccato of light pink, white, and reddish-orange. 

She dreams in solitude, walking endlessly on where the land meets the sea. It calms her nerves just to escape from the reality she is in.

As Rey feels herself surrendering to unconsciousness, a spark amongst the static in her bond to Ben ignites- small but surely there. She feels a weak prod in the Force and she, oh, knows this familiar signature of the Force. 

_ Rey?  _

The girl jolts out from the beginning of her deep slumber, heart ready to leap out her ribcage, and into the thin air she gasps, “Ben?” 

_ I don’t know where I am _ , the familiar deep voice reaches out. Sitting upright, she manages out in their connection,  _ How come- are you still alive? _

Although the question was meant to be serious, Rey could hear a faint chuckle on the other side. She feels infuriated that this Ben, or if this is him, is laughing at a horrible situation. Her grief had struck her to the core and there was no way that she would resuscitate the hope she had only for it to be broken down. Perhaps this was one of her delusions, like the ones she had when thirst consumed her in Jakku. 

Sensing her discomfort, his voice speaks out, this time gentler.  _ I think so? I am quite disheartened that you left my body here. But other than that, I miss you.  _

Rey wants to scream. To scream out in joy. Relief and spurs of emotions waves over the connection, her light flickering in an array of colors. He misses her. And she misses him. Oh, how she yearns to project herself to where he is but for some reason, the Force wouldn’t allow it. Frustrated she replies,  _ I miss you too. I’m coming back to get you. _

She could feel Ben’s elation stifling through the bond. But then, a sense of apprehension begins to trickle down the elation. Her face contorts into a frown. _The Resistance is going to have me dead, Rey. I don't quite think they will perceive the former Supreme Leader as an alley._ _Or even a prisoner._

That’s right. When Kylo Ren reigned in terror, the man beneath the mask quivered. Between the fractures of his mask, Rey saw a flint of light-- impervious to the hollow cage of darkness. Like the inquisitive mind of a child, the light yearned to shine itself over the possibility of his goodness. A redemption. 

Despite Kylo Ren, Rey came to know his heart. Came to know Ben Solo. When the first time she held his heart tenderly in her hands, the rough, shattered edges of it cut her. Yet, to Rey, these fragmented pieces could still be put together. The man was disillusioned of himself, yet his heart revealed to Rey more about herself-- like a broken mirror. 

And when Rey entrusted Ben Solo her own vulnerabilities, although harsh at first, he tenderly caressed those wounds and scars. And when the time comes, she would like to press her lips on the jagged edges too. He was a vision, a masterpiece to be reckoned with. And she loves him for it. 

_ Rey? Are you asleep?  _ His deep voice ripples through the bond like a drop of rain. 

_ Ben,  _ she shifts on her stomach,  _ I love you.  _

She was scared of broken promises. Scared of lies conjured by her parents’ absence. But, she was done being scared. 

Her cheeks flushed as silence waves over them. She can’t see him, but she feels him contemplating. What was he contemplating? Oh, Rey fears to intrude on his thoughts of her confession. Perhaps she said it too soon. Perhaps he thinks of her as a delusional girl-- a desperate, lonesome scavenger with fever dreams. 

_ I love you too, sweetheart _ , he finally says. 

A smile creeps on her face, her arm rested on top of her closed eyes. 

_If I could do it all over again, I would save you. I would put you above myself_ _and the stars_ , he continues as if sensing her insecurities from earlier. 

_ Ben, promise me that we will come together. _

_ I promise you, always _ .

Wherever the path of the force takes them this time, all Rey knows is that she loves him. And he loves her. 

Ben brushes against their connection as if pressing a kiss on her forehead. Rey feels a smile creeping on both their faces as he whispers: 

_ Let us start back at one.  _

**Author's Note:**

> “Say farewell to the dark of night  
> I see the coming of the sun  
> I feel like a little child  
> Whose life has just begun  
> You came and breathed new life  
> Into this lonely heart of mine  
> You threw out of the lifeline  
> Just in the nick of time
> 
> One  
> You're like a dream come true  
> Two  
> Just want to be with you  
> Three  
> Girl, it's plain to see  
> That you're the only one for me  
> And four  
> Repeat steps one through three  
> Five  
> Make you fall in love with me  
> If ever I believe my work is done  
> Then I'll start back at one.” 
> 
> song: back at one by brian mcknight
> 
> lmk if you enjoyed this! <3


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